Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Stars Are Falling From the Sky

The teachers in my district loved this activity that I created last year. I thought you might like it too. I teach the kids how to do this in a systematic way with each sight word I introduce. It helps to make them independent learners since I have them going through the same process over and over again. First they trace the sight word (we call them star words), then they take colored pencils and "rainbow write inside the word", and finally they cut out the individual letters and glue them in the box in the correct order. Now, here is what happens in my room. Students glue these in the wrong order (as hard as that might be to believe) and the children who are four glue them upside down or go from right to left. When I see this I know it is going to be a long year ! They have very limited understanding of print. If you like this you can grab it here. I hope you like this little freebie. If you take it maybe you can tell me something you like to use to build sight word knowledge!

66 comments:

I love this, thank you! I have a "Star Center" in my classroom where I put star word (sight words) activities. I like the idea of doing the same activity with each new word and creating that independence! I usually have the children "Mix and Fix" the new word with magnetic letters and then have them practice writing the word on a whiteboard.

I laughed out loud when I got to your comment about the four year olds we have in kinder. I know it's hard for "other people" to understand that these babies just aren't ready for the "new" kinder yet. Can't wait for the entrance date to be rolled back, transitional kinder to be going and then the whole new set of issues that will bring to our CA schools. I do LOVE this idea for sight words! Thank you!

This is such a GREAT idea! This would be a great asset to the sight word program we use in my class! Is there a possible way to get an editable version of this so that I may do this with all our sight words? Please let me know if there is. Thanks you co much for sharing all your wonderful ideas! I love them!

I have a similar kind of activity for star words. My sheet has five large boxes on the sheet. The first box has the star word of the week in traceable lettering. Then I have a pencil next to the second box and the kids are to write the sight word with pencil. The third box has a crayon, fourth has a colored pencil and the fifth has a marker. So in the end the kids will write the word five times, five different ways.

I have a book similar in style. My special need student loved the repetitiveness of this activity. This has been a great resource since we teach 100 words in k.http://catalog.educationexpressonline.com/the_best_sight_word_book_ever-p-168959.html

I keep this super simple for the beginning of the year when they are not really ready to write these words independently. I am just trying to build their fine motor in a very controlled manner. We use white boards to practice writing the words and don't release this until a bit later in the year. I love hearing everyone's approach.

Thanks Fran! In my class we call sight words "Heart Words" for words you need to learn by heart. After reading a book that features the word, they write it 6 times to practice and then put a heart sticker by the one they think is their best. This page would be a great addition to the many activities we do with our words. I would buy a sight word unit!

We use Heidi's Songs Sing and Spell Volumes 1 & 2 which cover most of our sight words. The kids LOVE those songs and it really helps them when they are writing. I always encourage them by singing the song and leaving out the letters or humming to the tune and they can remember the letters to write from the song. It's awesome, but I love the idea of adding something like this to the weekly sight word routine! Thanks.

I love this - especially for the beginning of the year. We use the scholastic sight words worksheets, but they have a lot of writing involved which is hard at the beginning of the year.I find that practicing oral spelling as a class is more helpful for actually remembering the words - one of those things that I wouldn't think would be that helpful, but we make it a game and the kids like to impress me. At our school we do "say, spell, say" using flashcards - so for the word 'the':teacher: What word?kids: theteacher: Spell it.kids: t-h-eteacher: What word?kids: the

Hope that makes sense. At the beginning of the year I say "the word is the" when I hold up the flashcard and then phase that part out as it isn't needed anymore.

After all that....Thanks for sharing! I will definitively look for all the words up on TpT.

This is such a great idea. After I introduce a word, it goes on the word wall, of course, but then a laminated star with the word on it goes on the ceiling. After we get quite a few up there, they have a word hunt and find either specific words, or just get me five or ten. Just a little extension!

This is great!!!! Makes so much sense to use. Can't wait to try it with my kiddos! We use the DVD Dolch Dogs to reinforce our sight words. You can use it as a book or a song, and my kids absolutely love it!

Love this! We do rainbow writing using high frequency at work on writing during Daily 5. I was wondering if you could emil me the template in microsoft word so I could use the same format for our district words?

This is wonderful, thanks for sharing. I had something similar to that last year, not my idea but from a book and you are so right. I was amazed how many kids put the letters either in the wrong order or upside down.

Thanks for sharing!!I use a dice/graphing game for reinforcing sight words. I write six words on a wooden dice, the kids roll it, find the word on the graphing worksheet and then write the word. They love this game!!

OMG! I tried to "whip" these up for myself last night, (we are finally changing to a new reading series with a different progression of words, Yeah). Two hours later . . .I finished one page and it does not look half as good as yours. PLEASE could you put a version we can "make" our own words on TpT? Maybe even a space to write the word on lines. Thanks so much for the inspiration. You really helped me with Thinking Maps.thanks familyaga@hotmail.com

Would it be possible for you to create a generic format as well for us to purchase (that we can type our own sight words into)? We do not all have the same required sight words. I work at a Charter School and our kids are required to know 100 words by the end of K. Therefore, we have developed our own sight word list (based on different list from K & 1). Thanks so much! I love this activity!!

Fran...I love the simplicity of this for the beginning of the year. We also do 100 words and I would buy yours if they matched. Perhaps you can sell the font you used for the part where the kids color in the sight word. I'd definitely buy the font!

You are the best! "The" worksheet for star words is terrific; simple and yet very educational. We use the term "heart words" but I think we can easily have both stars and hearts. I would love a set for our Treasures sight words and HFWs.Your generosity is very much appreciated and you are a blessing for those of us that are not creative and on a limited budget.

I love you Pete the Cat packet.. can't wait to use it in a couple of weeks. Can you tell me the name and where you got the font you used on the THE page for the coloring page? That font would be perfect for a bulletin board I am doing! I know you have had trouble with people taking your ideas and selling them so I understand if you don't want to share! I promise it is for my personal use! I don't sell anything....just buy everyone elses wonderful ideas :) Thanks!Dedi kel3coleman@yahoo.com

Hi Fran, I love this activity! I am always looking to reinforce my Star Words a different way! Do you have these in the TPT store? I would love to change it to my other Star Words for the week. Please let me know where it is located in the store.Thanks!MMc

Hi Fran, I talk about you all the time and refer to you as my new best friend! I love all your ideas. I just bought the sight words packet on TPT. I noticed that the sight word worksheets like this were not in it. Are they included in any of your TPT packets? Thanks!

Thanks so much for these. I used the freebie one in my class and loved it. Then I couldn't find where I had grabbed it from. :) I knew it was from you and I was searching your blog and just wasn't finding it. I finally found it today and will be heading over to TpT to get the whole packet. Thanks! I blogged about it for you too.

I love this activity! It's perfect for my preschoolers who are ready for sight words. Do you have this same activity for all of the sight words in your TPT store? I'd love to do this with each word we cover. Thanks again for such great things!!

Yes. Go to Tpt and you will find it in my store. The packet is called sight words to rock your room too. I also have another packet that is full of manipulatives that would be idea for your students. I hope that helps you.

Hi! I love spending time on your blog! So many great ideas! I was wondering if you have a list of the sight words included in your Sight Words to Rock the Room Too package so I know what words would be in it.

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